Family policy in Sweden

Sweden has a well-developed family policy, organized around the goals of family economic security and physical well-being, voluntary parenthood, gender equality, and children's rights. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of family policy in Sweden, beginning with a brief history of the development of family policy goals and a consideration of the reasons for the consensus on family policy goals that has arisen. Details are provided on programs designed to reach goals, and the success of these programs is evaluated. The impact of recent economic and political developments on the future of family policy making in Sweden is also discussed.She is also Adjunct Professor of Women's Studies. Her research interests focus on work-family linkages in industrial societies and their implications for gender equity. She is currently researching the impact of corporate culture on men's participation in child care in Sweden. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.     

Family Policy and Fertility Intentions in 21 European Countries

European countries show substantial variation in family policy and in the extent to which policies support more traditional male‐breadwinner or more gender egalitarian earner–carer family arrangements. Using data from the European Social Survey, the authors implemented multilevel models to analyze variation in fertility intentions of 16,000 men and women according to individual‐level characteristics and family policy across 21 European countries. Both traditional and earner–carer family support generosity were positively related to first‐birth intentions for men and women. In contrast, only earner–carer support maintains its positive relationship with second birth intentions. Family policy is not in general related to third and higher order parity intentions.     

Family Support for the Elderly in Korea

Abstract

This article discusses major issues and concerns regarding family support for parents and elderly people in industrialized and urbanized Korea. It summarizes new trends in family support for elderly members, continuing influences of the traditional value of family support (filial piety), growing needs for public services for elderly people and their families, urgent calls for the state to assume greater responsibilities for providing social security and services for the elderly, needs for cross-cultural studies of family support, and certain cultural similarities and differences to be considered. The article concludes with some suggestions for future research.     

Family leave legislation in the American states: Toward a model of state policy adoption

The issue of mandated family leave has drawn substantial attention in recent years. This article develops and tests empirically a model of adoption of family leave policies in the American states during the late 1980s. State family leave policies are seen as a function of three sets of variables: (a) institutional-elite variables such as partisan control of state government and the proportion of women in the state legislatures; (b) constituency disposition variables such as mass partisanship, mass ideology, and the likelihood of general support for “women's” issues; and (c) contextual-demand variables such as birth rates and women's participation in the workforce. The model provides impressive fit to the data, accurately predicting the family leave policies of 92% of the state cases. The results suggest the importance of partisan control of state government, proportion of women in the state legislature, urbanization, and feminism as a state policy as factors that affect the probability that states will adopt mandated family leave policies. His research interests include American politics, public policy, and domestic political economy. He is editor of theAmerican Politics Quarterly, and is former President of the State Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. Her research interests include family policy and women's labor force participation. She received her Ph.D. in Family Science from the University of Georgia.     

Family policy and critical science research: Facilitating change

The principles of critical science for policy research are outlined and one research project is used as a case study. The study was intentionally designed to facilitate changes that would positively influence the economic well-being of children from divorced families. The project uses the critical science processes of public dialogue about child support guidelines for purposes of collaborative problem solving. The normative theories of procedural and distributive justice are used to guide the research reporting. The project contributes to changes in the practices of estimating the income needs of children, changes in estimating the relative monetary contributions of their parents, and proposed legislation and modifications in the state child support guidelines. She received her Ph.D. in family ecology from Michigan State University. Her research interests include the valuing issues of family life quality, family decision making, divorce,and the economic adjustments of families to economic stressors. She received her M.A. degree in Family Education from the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include decision making and parenting. She received her Ph.D. degree in anthropology from the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include social and cultural change and the integration of research findings into public policy decision making.     

Children Living With Uninsured Family Members: Differences by Family Structure

Despite increased access to insurance through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, uninsurance rates are expected to remain relatively high. Having uninsured family members may expose children to financial hardships. Eligibility rules governing both private and public health insurance are based on outdated expectations about family structure. Using 2009–2011 data from the National Health Interview Survey (N = 65,038), the authors investigated family structure differences in family‐level insurance coverage of households with children. Children living with married biological parents were the least likely to have uninsured family members and most likely to have all family members covered by private insurance. Controlling for demographic characteristics and income, children in single‐mother families had the same risk of having an uninsured family member as children in married‐parent families. Children with cohabiting biological parents had higher rates of family uninsurance than children with married biological parents, even accounting for other characteristics.     

A snapshot in time: Family policy and the United Nations International Year of the Family

Some of the special agendas and initiatives of the International Year of the Family (IYF), sponsored by the United Nations, are highlighted. After reviewing the history and structure of IYF, findings concerning salient areas and topics for nationally based policy and programs are presented. These findings are derived from a content analysis of materials assembled from 136 UN Member States, as well as analysis of other documents and discussions with the IYF Secretariat. The saliency of concerns is also presented by grouping countries according to their level of human suffering. Familycentric policy considerations are discussed, and implications are cited for universities, policy makers, and practitioners.     

“Beating the Odds” Versus “Changing the Odds”: Poverty,Resilience, and Family Policy

Mixed in with national data on declining poverty rates are other signs that poverty, economic hardship, and inequality continue unabated. This essay examines: (a) the scope of poverty and the growing disparity in income and wealth; (b) the consequences of poverty of adults and children; and (c) strategies for improving their resilience. It is suggested that resiliency will be enhanced more by keen attention to national economic policies than by focusing upon individual personality characteristics, family attributes, or even unique community features. Drawing on a public health analogy, a focus on prevention (through sound economic redistribution policies) could significantly strengthen families and improve their well‐being.     

Legislating for Filial Piety: An Indirect Approach to Promoting Family Support and Responsibility for Older People in Korea

Although every culture follows its own indigenous elder care practices, Korea has retained a unique way of supporting elder parents, specifically, and older people in general. When the care of older people in Korea became significantly challenging, it was determined to launch a controversial law to promote the tradition of filial piety. The main content of the law consists of requiring the government to take action to encourage filial piety and to support those adult children who care for their parents. Although this legislation has the potential to promote the practice of filial piety, the nature of the law is largely rhetorical and symbolic rather than practical, and as a result, its workability and efficiency are limited.     

Work/Family Policy Stratification: The Examples of Family Support and Family Leave

In the past decade the United States Congress has debated and passed legislative policies concerned with women's work, both in the family and in the labor force. The Family Support Act of 1988 and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 fall into this category of legislative policy. A comparative study of Congressional testimony in each case reveals that these two pieces of legislation are excellent examples of how federal policies—and the debates which fashion these policies—maintain and promote a system of policy stratification that perpetuates differences based on gender, race, class and marital and occupational status.     

The Hetero-Gay Family

Abstract

The hetero-gay family is a relatively new family configuration that is headed by a heterosexual mother and gay father who conceive and raise children together, although residing separately. This article presents the unique characteristics of hetero-gay families and the potential implications for child development of growing up in a het-ero-gay family. Recent research on non-marital motherhood and fatherhood among gay men is used to inform the debate. Comparisons of hetero-gay families to other family configurations help highlight central issues and offer directions for future research.     

The Family Strengths in Greece Then and Now

Abstract

Family has a long historical course in Greece. The turbulent periods of Hellenic history and the fluctuations of the political, social and economic life have influenced Hellenic family strengths. Nevertheless, there have been some basic elements on which the family has been based and acquired a continuous stability and homogeneity. These features are: religion, language, a rich cultural heritage, tradition and customs. Roles in the family are strongly influenced by the above, though they have been readjusted and redefined in contemporary society.     

#FamiliesBelongTogether: Facts and Fictions of Race and Family in U.S. Immigration Policy

Family reunification is widely seen as a relatively stable feature of the contemporary U.S. immigration regime protected by the nation’s liberal democratic institutions and humanitarian values. Drawing on critical scholarship that situates immigration policies in racial nation‐building projects, this article explores the development of U.S. family‐based admission policies from 1965 to the early 2000s. I bring attention to the role of racial family logics in the changing character and meaning of these policies. Racial family logics reflect the emergent and contested ways in which families are both idealized and institutionally organized in relation to the state, the economy, and other social institutions to support racial projects. A normative conception of “the family” as a white, heterosexual, male wage earner, nuclear household unit informed the 1965 U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act and its emphasis on family‐based admissions. However, by the 1990s, the landscape of immigration, race, and family in the United States had shifted quite dramatically. The family‐based admissions system was now associated with immigrants from Asia and Latin America rather than Europe. The “browning” of the system was accompanied by its incorporation into racialized projects of state discipline, surveillance, and control over those deemed “undeserving” in relation to neoliberal values of self‐reliant and self‐regulating families.     

Contributions of Family Leisure to Family Functioning Among Transracial Adoptive Families

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine family leisure behavior among intact families with transracial adoptive children and make comparisons to a broad sample of families with only biological children. The sample consisted of 197 adoptive families. Data were analyzed from a parent, youth, and family perspective. The Family Leisure Activity Profile (FLAP) was used to determine family leisure involvement. FACES II was used to measure family functioning. Findings indicated that measures of family cohesion, family adaptability, and family functioning were higher among the adoptive family sample. Core, balance, and total family leisure involvement were also higher among the adoptive family sample. Multiple regression analyses indicated a positive relationship between family leisure and family functioning among this sample from the parent, youth, and family levels of measurement. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.     

Family Structure Transitions and Maternal Parenting Stress

Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,176) are used to examine family structure transitions and maternal parenting stress. Using multilevel modeling, we found that mothers who exit coresidential relationships with biological fathers or enter coresidential relationships with nonbiological fathers reported higher levels of parenting stress than mothers in stable coresidential relationships. Mothers who enter coresidential relationships with biological fathers reported lower levels of parenting stress than mothers who remain single. Mothers' resources, especially their relationships with biological fathers, accounted for most of the associations between transitions and parenting stress, with posttransition resources being more important than pretransition resources. Mothers with high levels of education were less affected by transitions than mothers with less education.     

Family Policy: Becoming a Field of Inquiry and Subfield of Social Policy

This decade review centers on 2 disconnects between rhetoric and reality. First, public investments in families continue to grow, yet family policy is still not a term widely used by policymakers or the public. Second, social science studies increased in number and sophistication, with some family sensitive and others policy relevant. Few focus on both, which is what is most needed if research is to inform family policy. In exploring these disconnects, we summarize recent trends in family policies and the influence of research on family policymaking. We suggest a rationale for family policy and illustrate its value using the examples of early childhood, welfare reform, and parent education policies. We conclude with suggested next steps.     

Questioning the Suitability of Traditional Self-Report Family Functioning Measures for Single-Parent Families with Young Children

Family functioning is a common interest of social science and health researchers. Most often, well-established self-report instruments are used to measure family functioning. Although these instruments have been used with families of diverse compositions, our experiences using one of the commonly used instruments, the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD), suggest that it is not appropriate for single-parent families with young children. In addition to describing the difficulties we encountered with the FAD, we discuss our experiences in relation to current research findings about the processes and effectiveness of family functioning in single-parent families. As well, we examine other frequently used self-report family functioning instruments, the results of which lead us to question the suitability of any of the commonly used self-report family functioning instruments for single-parent families with young children. We conclude by arguing for the development of family functioning instruments that are appropriate for diverse family structures and compositions.     

The School-Based Family: Teachers as Parental Figures for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Ugandan Schools

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible formation of surrogate families within Ugandan schools, especially among orphans who lack positive development opportunities typically provided by parents. This qualitative study sample of 66 Ugandan secondary school students were selected from eight schools in the Mukono district of Uganda. Findings suggest a potentially widespread family formation pattern between students and their teachers. More than 75% of students interviewed self-identified their teacher as family. Some teachers were able to offer orphans and vulnerable children positive developmental assets and were, therefore, identified as family.